Ray’s Hometown Bar—the hit NYC-born watering hole from Authentic Hospitality, with high-profile collaborators including actors Justin Theroux and Nicholas Braun—is jetting south to the Magic City. Why there? “Miami has an edge that I’ve never felt in any other city,” says Theroux. “There’s a high-low to that place that’s unmatched anywhere—even New York. Ray’s should fit right in.”
The concept’s Miami Beach branch will open at the start of the region’s Art Basel week, on December 3. The timing has more to do with crowds being in town versus aligning with the event itself; Ray’s is a come-one-come-everyone kind of place, the exact opposite in tone, really, of Art Basel’s expensiveness and exclusivity. Yes, you might see a star or two tucking into a booth, but that isn’t the point.
Photo: Diana Todorova
“It’s not at all about being in a VIP section. It’s about interacting with the whole room. It’s about singing along,” says Carlos Quirarte, a partner in Authentic with Matthew Kliegman and Matthew Charles (they have two Ray’s venues in New York–one in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn). He adds that when there is a well-known figure around, their presence is pretty much normalized: “I’m seeing less and less people take out their phones.”
Braun agrees with Quirarte’s low-key sentiment. “I’d always had this dream in the back of my mind to own a bar,” he says. “So when it happened, I was obviously stoked. And then Ray’s turned out to be better than I could have ever hoped for. There is a vibe that’s totally its own. We’re ready to take it on the road.” Adds Theroux, “Whenever there’s a space that people can genuinely feel like they can let their hair down and blow off steam, that’s a good thing. Bars, particularly ones like Ray’s, are very low-fi.”
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